Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-06-11
The Shakespeare MYTH.
BY IGNATIuS DoNNELLY.


From the North American Review
The traditions which have come down tn us
concerning Shakespeare do not, any OF them point
TO the habits OF a scholar or a gentleman The
first glimpse we have of the family was when
John Shakespeare, his father, was fined twelve
pence, In 1852, for maintaining "a conspicuous
sserquina1-ium before his house In Henley Street
The first tradition We have concerning
Shakespeare himself Is that or ale-drinkinQ con-
test with the 'BidfOrd topers," while yet a Young
man. in which he became so beastly drunk that he
could not reach home, but slept all night by the
roadside We are told that he was deer-stealer.
ana given 10 all manner OF unuckineSs:" and
that -Sir Thomas Lucy had him oft imprisoned
and whipped" = The last tradition we
have OF him Is that his death was the result of a
drinking bout with DraytOn and Ben johnson.
Neither his father nor mother could read or write
and Halliwell Phillips doubts il there was book
In the house OF bis parents. There Is no reference
to any book or papers in ShakeSpeare's Will His
daughter Judith signed her name with a cross
Imagine the daughter OF Herbert spencer or VIM
f. Gladstone (and the author OF the plays was a
greater, wiser, and more learned man than either
Of them unable to read or write! 1t is inconceiv-
Shakespeare himself never claimed the plays
He did not put his name TO the tite-eaf OF any of
oneln; 13T 1ne name on the title-leaf is in every
case, Htutdm Sl.dSe speare," very often printed
with a hyphen, thus, 'Snake-spearer while the
three signatures TO his Will and the two Others tn
legal Instruments these being the only autographs
we have OF him, are In each case spelled ShaEsDere
which must have been pronounced IShacksoere
And this seems to have been the accepted pro.
town council the name OF Shakespeare's father oc
ours !s6 times, and in not one instance is it
spelled Shakespeare. 1t is given as SchacksDer
ShackeSper, Shaksper, Shaxpeare, and Shaxper
In the poets" marriage bond it Is "Shags-
Bacon's dearest friend, Sir Tobie Matthew was
undoubtedly in his secret. Sir Tobie writes Bacon
letter In acknowledgement OF the gift of ga great
and noble tonen,' presumed to be the Shakes
peare folio OF 1923. and he adds this postscript:
The most prodigious wit that ever knew of INV
ships name though he be kro,cn bv another" ~
Bacon, In the sixth book OF de Augmentis ~
says:
As for writing, 1t is performed either By the com.
mon alphabet, which Is used by everybody or bv A
secret and private agreed upon by particular
SONS. which they call ciDhers" 1
That Is TO say, cipher is secret alphabet And
we ind Bacon corresponding with Sir TObie and
referring to "works OF his recreation" and to
'.works Of the alphabet" And then, about the
time the Shakespeare folio OF 1923, in which, be it
remembered, half the plays appear for the first
time, Is about to be published we ind Bacon
writing to Sir Toble that II Is time to sput the
dtphd1et In frame" What was the frame? The
foho-for shall show that the cipher depends on
the paging OF the folio and the paging is as a
frame TO the text.